


Extraordinary

by AbedIsBatmanNow0309



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: canon adjacent, more Spencer Reid less of his suffering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-12 20:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16002581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbedIsBatmanNow0309/pseuds/AbedIsBatmanNow0309
Summary: what if Alex Blake didn't take Emily Prentiss's spot in the BAU and instead it went to a fresh-faced agent named Olivia Lane?I'm calling this canon adjacent, because I'm taking inspiration from canon events but adding my own imagination.let's give Spencer Reid the happy ending he deserves.





	1. The Lesson

     SSA Olivia Lane, newest member of the BAU. You still couldn’t believe it had been nearly a year already. Sometimes you still flipped open your badge and stared at the seal, in all its official glory. You loved your job, you loved your team, and they loved you right back. Even Hotch, though neither of you were very good at showing it. You’d taken your cue from Morgan and everyone else had quickly received an affectionate nickname: Rossi was "Papa Bear," Derek "Boo Boo," JJ though short and sweet already was "pretty lady" or "hot mama" when you were feeling frisky, Penelope was "PG" or "Princess," and Spencer, well, more often than not, he was your “gorgeous,” “pretty boy,” “big, beautiful brain.” You harbored a secret crush for the floppy haired Dr. Reid. And by “secret crush,” you meant it was really only a secret to the man himself, bless his oblivious heart. You weren’t that experienced in the dating arena, more married to the job, and you weren’t sure if you would ever have worked up the courage to make a move on the good doctor, but it didn’t much matter now. Now he had phone booth girl. He’d only confided in you by default; you were the newbie and he didn’t want any of the others to know about his super secret pay phone girlfriend yet. You knew something was up when he had you drop him off in the middle of nowhere to make a phone call, but you wished you had left it alone, because when he told you, well, it hurt. It was obvious how much he cared about her. And you figured she was more on his level anyway. You were just the new kid on the BAU block, with a mere masters in 19th century British literature and a passion for solving mysteries, no competition to a star geneticist and professor.

     You shook your head to snap yourself out of that spiral of negative thoughts. You are awesome and you don’t need to compare yourself to anyone else, you reminded yourself. As you looked around, you realized the rest of the team had cleared out while you’d been daydreaming. You picked up your bag, checked to make sure you had your keys and your phone, and stood up from your desk. A final cursory glance around revealed that not everyone had left before you. Dr. Spencer Reid still sat his desk, wearing the look on his face that you’d come to know meant something was weighing on him. You took the two steps separating your cubicles and leaned a hip against his desk.

     “Ok, gorgeous, spit it out. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

     “What?” He jumped a little in his chair. “Oh, uh, nothing,” he muttered as he cast his eyes back down.

     “Reid… hon, you’ve been sitting here staring at your pen for half an hour now.” Your eyebrows raised in a way that allowed no arguments and he quickly dropped the offending writing instrument and clenched his fingers.

     “I’m, um…” He trailed off as he looked up at you and then past you as if he was searching for the words, but wasn’t sure he wanted to find them. You sighed.

     “Ok, but Spence, just… you’ll let me know if I can help, right?”

     He nodded and looked back down to his desk. Your lips quirked up unbidden into the soft half smile that seemed reserved for the resident genius. You stuck a fist out and he gently knocked it with one of his own. (Morgan had finally gotten him to master the fist bump.)

     “That’s settled then. Good night, pretty boy.”

     “Night, Liv."

     You should probably stop flirting with him, you thought as you headed toward the elevator bay, but by now it was a habit you couldn’t break, just like the longing glances you cast his way every time he threw out a random fact or statistic. All the team members except Reid seemed to see those and you thought, secretly, they might be rooting for you, but of course, they didn’t know about _her_. You pushed the down button, wondering if she was the reason he’d been zoned out after everyone else had gone home. As you cast a last look over your shoulder you noticed Reid was no longer in deep contemplation of the ballpoint pen, but striding across the bullpen towards you, slinging his bag over his head.

     “Liv, wait! Uh, can I ask you something?”

     “Of course, Spence."

     The doors to the elevator dinged open and he waved you in first. Always chivalrous, your Dr. Reid.

     “You… you always call me ‘gorgeous.’ Is that…do you mean that?”

     “Oh, Reid, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I know you’re, you know, seeing someone. Or talking to someone. Or whatever it is. Uh, anyway, I’ll stop. Sorry.”

     “No! I, uh, that’s not what I meant, I just…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “She wants to meet and…" You refused to fill in the pause. "...and what if she doesn’t like me?”

     “Spencer…why wouldn't she like you?"

     “Because I’m weird. I slouch, my hair’s too long, my tie’s perpetually crooked…”

     "Pretty boy, she is gonna love you.”

     “You think so?”

     “I know so, honey. The only thing more beautiful than that face is that big ol’ brain of yours and she already loves that, right?”

     He looked back down at the floor and rocked back on his heels. That small adoring smile crept back onto your face.

     “If that’s what’s got you so worried, you’ve got nothing to worry about. So to answer your question, Spencer, yeah. I mean it.”

     The doors dinged open again in the underground parking structure and you both started towards your cars.

     “Have a great time, Spence. I’ll see you in two days and you can tell me all about it.”

     “Thanks, Olivia. You’re… you’re a good friend.”

     “Anytime, hon.” You approached the driver’s side door of your decade old Malibu, but turned back to see Reid just standing by your bumper, hands in his pockets. “Good night for real this time.”

     A laugh lit up his whole frame. “Good night for real this time.”

     You gave a little wave as you opened your door and he copied the movement as you climbed in behind the wheel. You let out a little sigh as you started the engine and he moved further down the garage to give you some room. Yeah, you, SSA Olivia Lane, had it bad for this boy.


	2. Alchemy

"I will not say 'do not weep,' for not all tears are an evil" - JRR Tolkien

     You sat across the table from Spencer as you looked over case files in South Dakota. It had been almost four months since Maeve’s death at the hands of her stalker. The whole team had been there. It had been so hard, seeing Spencer so distraught and completely unable to comfort him. Everyone had taken turns checking up on him and you had felt utterly helpless those first weeks. He never answered the door, but he was obviously in there and so you’d taken to just sitting with your back to his door and talking to him, hoping he was just on the other side listening. You usually didn’t know what to say, so you’d started reading to him. First, just stupid tweets or random world news bulletins that were more interesting than depressing, but later, as the pile of gift baskets from Garcia grew, you’d brought books: a collection of William Carlos Williams’s poems and a volume of the collected works of Oscar Wilde, because no one could be terribly sad during "This is Just to Say" or _The Importance of Being Earnest_. You weren’t even sure he’d heard you. More likely than not, he was barricaded by blankets in his bed, but it made you feel like you were doing something at least. Reid had never mentioned it. He’d been back at work for six weeks, but he seemed particularly on edge this week.

     “Hey, uh, I don’t mean to pry, but you’ve been a little, shall we say, snappy, so uh… you haven’t been sleeping, have you?”

     “I can’t. There’s too much work to do.”

     “Spence, I don’t think I ever really said, but I’m sorry about Maeve. Truly.” You paused to give him a chance to respond, but he just stared at you, so you went on, trying to coax him into talking to you. “It’s been what, four months?”

     “Three months and fifteen days.”

     “That’s why you’re not sleeping, isn’t it?” Silence. “This can’t go on, Reid.”

     “I realize that the socially acceptable amount of time to wallow in grief is coming to an end, but”

     “That’s not what I mean,” you cut him off. “You wallow as long as you need, but, please, honey, talk to someone.”

     “I feel like there are two types of people in this world, Liv, the ones that get over their grief and move on and the ones that descend into some sort of endless misery.”

     You didn’t really know what to say to that, but could relate, in the way that it sometimes felt like your unrequited love for him was endless misery. You reached your hand across the table, but chickened out before actually touching him. “Give it time.”

     “How much time? I thought by coming to work every day and helping other people the pain would lessen, but it hasn’t.”

     “Compartmentalization works only so long.” God, you were glad he was finally opening up, but you wished you had something better to say. Rossi would probably have a great story to tell and JJ or Penelope could’ve held him, but you? You were so not good at this.

     “You know that I remember every single word we ever said to each other?”

     “Finally, the downside to an eidetic memory.” Yeah, great idea, make a stupid joke right now, you internally chided yourself. “Listen, Spencer, you can’t control the process. You have to let yourself grieve.”

     “I’m not sleeping because when I do, I dream of Maeve. She always asks me to dance, but I can’t cause I don’t know how to dance and cause I never even got to touch her while she was alive. I know if I give into that fantasy I’ll be lost forever, so I force myself to wake up. Is that part of normal healing?”

     “You listen to me very carefully. Don’t ever let me hear you use ‘normal’ in relation to yourself again. You are not now, nor have you ever been, nor will you ever be ‘normal.’ And why would you want to be? Who even decides what that means anyway? No, you, Spencer Reid, PhD times four, you are extraordinary. I can’t tell you when the dreams are going to stop or when you’re going to move on, but I know you, Reid, and you are not going to be endlessly miserable, ok? But you and I both know that the first step is for you to get some sleep, cause we need that big beautiful brain of yours in tip-top shape.” A wry smile crept across his face and you felt yourself matching it. “But first, we’ve got work to do. More coffee?”

     “That would be great. Thank you.”

     “You got it, gorgeous. One large, extra sugar coming right up.” You winked as you rose from the table and head from the conference room to the coffee pot. Normally you wouldn’t drink station coffee (burnt, like diner coffee), but in this town, you weren’t exactly spoiled for choice, so you settled for brewing your own pot in the hopes that, despite the fact that it came pre-ground in a can, at least it would be freshly brewed. Leaning against the table with your back to the coffee maker, listening as it gurgled and spit, and praying it didn’t blow up, you looked back into the conference room as Spencer forlornly flipped through the files again, head in his left hand, looking for something, anything they hadn’t seen yet. You gave yourself one longing sigh.

     “Hey, kid, how’re those files coming?”

     You jumped up straight and whipped around, hand on your chest. “Jesus, Papa Bear, don’t sneak up on a girl like that! Not all of us have Marine trained hearing.”

     Rossi chuckled. “Sorry, Liv. Saw you talking to the genius after we delivered the profile. He’s not getting any sleep, is he?”

     “No, I don’t think so. Rossi, do you… I mean, how do you deal with the dreams?”

     “Whoo. That’s a tough one, kiddo. Reid having dreams about Maeve?”

     “Yeah and he’s afraid to let himself have even this fantasy, but, well, maybe it would help him, you know, come to terms with it.” You rubbed your hand over your face. “I don’t know, but, Lord, I hate seeing him like this.”

     Rossi smiled. Yep, he definitely knew about your *secret crush.* “I know, Liv. Listen, while you’re fixing the coffee, why don’t I give him a little pep talk, huh?” He clapped you on the shoulder as he moved to where Reid was sitting. “And pour me one too. You know how I like it.”

     “Sure thing, Papa Bear. Hot and black, comin’ at ya,” you called over your shoulder with a chortle as you pulled out three respectably clean mugs.

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     When you boarded the plane after the case in South Dakota was wrapped up, you spied Spencer sitting towards the rear, with his back towards you, staring out the window. You stowed your go bag overhead and moved to sit opposite him.

     “It’s like alchemy,” you proclaimed as you sat down.

     He turned his face from the window and looked at you questioningly.

     “I’ve been doing research on dream theory, even though I’m sure you’re an expert, and it seems to me that the science of dreams is really more like alchemy. You know, the process of turning common metals into precious ones. Dreams work the same way, turning something awful into something better.”

     “I don’t know, Olivia. I’d like to believe that…”

     “Just promise me you’ll think about it. Or better yet, don’t think. Just let it happen, Pretty Boy.” You heard the door closing as the jet prepared to take off for home. You shut your eyes as you shifted in the chair. “I’m closing my eyes now. You should do the same.” You heard Spencer scoff lightly, but when you peaked a moment later, you saw that his eyes were closed and a small smile softened his face. “Sweet dreams, Spence,” you whispered as you shut your eyes once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is what I've got fleshed out so far, but I've got notes for at least eight more chapters. I'm pretty new to writing fiction and I'd love to hear what y'all are thinking! <3


	3. In the Blood

     Just like that, it was October again. Crimson and golden leaves crunched underfoot, leaving you sniffling, but satisfied. You never let a little thing like allergies get in the way of enjoying the seasons and autumn was a favorite. Warm colors abound, sounds begin to muffle in preparation for winter, wardrobe sorted: hat, scarf, sweater, skinny pants (the bureau didn’t quite allow jeans yet), boots. And of course, Halloween. Annual costume planning started the first of August. You had studied acting in your undergrad days and loved a chance to dress up. Plus, there was just something about the child-like wonder of it all. Dressing up, eating candy, staying up too late, watching a movie you probably shouldn’t. That was probably what appealed to Reid too, you mused as you headed into work. An image of last Halloween flashed through your mind unbidden and your heart leapt as you remembered the look on Spencer’s face when Henry had dressed up as “his favorite profiler.” They were the two most adorable profilers ever. You tried to clear your head as the elevator opened, only to reveal _your_ favorite profiler deep in conversation with Garcia. Penelope looked kinda weirded out.

     “Hey, gorgeous. Princess. What’s up?”

     “Oh, uh, hey, Liv. I was just uh…”

     “Reid was just…” She waved her hand vaguely in his direction, but didn’t elaborate. “Hey! I’m having a Day of the Dead party! You’re coming right?”

     “Wouldn’t miss it, PG! Any special wardrobe requirements?”

     “No,” she said looking sad. “I wanted to go scary this year, but you all don’t scare easily. Or like at all. And don’t worry about refreshments, either. Reid helped me do all the shopping. Just bring your beautiful self and anything you want to leave on the ofrenda.”

     “The I’m sorry what now?”

     Reid jumped in. “The ofrenda is an altar honoring the dead where people leave flowers, photos, food and drinks, or any other possessions of the deceased.”

     “Right. Ok cool.” Just then your phones all pinged almost simultaneously. “Duty calls.”

     “I’ll text you the deets for the party, Liv!” Garcia called back as she hustled off to set up the case presentation with Hotch, leaving you with Spencer. Even though you always brought your travel mug from home, you followed him into the kitchenette as he grabbed a coffee.

     “So, Pretty Boy, what are your Halloween plans?”

     “Oh, uh, none.”

     “What?! Spence, you love Halloween!”

     “Yeah, but I’m, uh, not much in the mood for celebrating.” He quickly turned away from you to stir in his customary mountain of sugar. “What about you? Going out and having fun?”

     “Oh I don’t really go out. I just have my usual planned. Found the perfect pumpkin for jack-o-lantern carving, got my costume all ready to hand out candy for trick-or-treat, then I eat the leftover candy and watch John Carpenter’s _Halloween_. You’re welcome to join me, you know.”

     “Thanks, Liv. I’ll, uh, I’ll think about it,” he answered as he turned and headed for the briefing room.

     You let out a breath. “Ok then,” you muttered to yourself before you followed him.

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     You’d gotten back from Utah and the actual real life twenty-first century witch-burner (your job could be so cool in a weird way) just in time to throw on your Thor costume (complete with toy-Mjolnir) and dump candy into a bowl for trick-or-treaters. There weren’t a ton of kids in your apartment complex, but there were enough to empty half your bowl, which was good for your health. You loved seeing their costumes. There was even a mini Thor and Loki brother-sister pair who got high-fives and a little extra candy slipped into their bags. Once the hour was up you flicked on the tv, found the all-day Halloween marathon, and headed to the kitchen to start on your jack-o-lantern, leaving the candy by the door in case of stragglers. Normally you’d have the jack-o-lantern ready before trick-or-treat, but the case hadn’t left you enough time. Still, you hated to see such a great pumpkin go to waste, so you cut open the top and started digging out the guts and setting aside the seeds to be roasted. You were washing the pulp off them when your phone’s text alert went off in the living room. Drying your hands, you went in to grab your phone just in time to see Jamie Lee Curtis defending herself with a knitting needle. The text was from Penelope with the directions to her apartment for the party the next day. You smiled to yourself at the number of emojis she’d tacked onto her message. Garcia was a blessing. You tucked your phone into your back pocket and went back into the kitchen, but just as you were about to dive back into the pumpkin guts, your phone rang. You swiped it open without looking.

     “What’d you forget, Princess?” you asked with a chuckle, assuming it was Garcia again.

     There was a pause on the other end and then a quiet voice slowly replied, “Uh, it’s Reid.”

     You pulled the phone back to check the caller ID and discovered that it did in fact read “Pretty Boy.” You hurriedly put it back to your ear. “Well, hey there, Reid. Sorry, thought you were PG calling about the party tomorrow. What’s up? Everything ok?”

     “Yeah, I just… uh, I found John Carpenter’s _Halloween_ on cable. You watching?”

     “You know it. It’s going to start over soon. You want to come over and help me with my jack-o-lantern?”

     “Oh, uh, I don’t… I don’t really want to go out…”

     “Oh, ok. Well, I was just working on roasting some pumpkin seeds if you change your mind. Unless… did you need something, Spence?”

     “I, uh… I just wanted to talk if that’s ok. I’m not bothering you am I?”

     “Of course not, hon! Can I put you on speaker though?”

     “Oh, uh, yeah sure.”

     You clicked on speaker phone and set the phone on the counter as you returned to your seeds. “Thanks. Hey, I can bring you some pumpkin seeds tomorrow if you want. Homemade are always the best. You’re coming to Garcia’s right?”

     “I’ll be there. I’d, uh, I’d like that.”

     You heard something in his voice. “Dr. Spencer Reid, are you blushing right now?”

     “What?!” He almost squeaked. “No! I was…” You heard a hacking cough and his voice sounded farther away. “I just choked on my M&Ms.”

     “Well that’s your problem right there, gorgeous.” Even though he couldn’t see you, you found yourself winking. “It’s Kit-Kats or nothing.”

     That brought him back. “Oh, is that so? Well my four PhDs and seven more Halloweens than you say M&Ms. There are more of them per package, hence more chocolate!”

     You threw your head back in a laugh. “Alright, alright, I defer to the expert!” Under your breath you faked a cough and muttered “Kit-Kats.”

     “I heard that!”

     You got the baking sheet out of the cupboard and rattled it over your phone. “I’m sorry what was that, Pretty Boy?” you said in an exaggerated raised voice. “I didn’t hear you.”

     “The movie’s starting over.”

     “Ooo ok almost done with the seeds.” You tossed them in the seasoning and arranged them on the sheet quickly, peaking at the tv. “I can miss the asylum scene, but I can’t miss the opening.”

     Spencer chuckled. “You really do do this every year, don’t you? You’ve got it down to a science.”

     “Uh, duh doi. It’s my favorite. Why do you sound so surprised?”

     “I don’t know. I guess you just seemed like the type to be out with someone somewhere. I didn’t peg you as the world’s biggest John Carpenter fan.”

     “Well I don’t think I can stake that claim, but _Halloween_ is the most masterful scary movie ever and deserves my undying devotion. And no, there’s no someone or somewhere I’d rather be tonight. Not my thing. Seems like there’s a lot you don’t know about me, Dr. Reid. Thought you were a better profiler than that,” you teased. In the long pause that ensued, you imagined the blush creeping back up his neck as he rocked up onto his toes. And then you realized, you always flirted with Reid, but…was he finally flirting back? “Ok, let’s make a deal. During the commercial breaks, we each get to ask one question. You don’t have to answer, but any answers have to be true. Agreed?”

     “Agreed.”

     That’s how you spent the rest of the night. Through taking the pumpkin seeds out to cool, half of your remaining candy, and two viewings of Halloween, you chatted. You pointed out your favorite parts of the film, argued more about acceptable candy (you agreed that Reese’s pumpkins were a solid second and that SweetTarts used to be much better, but were utterly divided on first place and candy corn), and traded questions. You told him about your brief dream of a life in the theatre, your little brother who was a mechanical engineer, so you were sure Spence would like him, your first dog and how you still hadn’t gotten another because you were worried about being gone so much for work, and growing up in Appalachia. He told you about Vegas, about Gideon teaching him to play chess, his very low maintenance pet fish, and his memories of his mom reading to him. He cleared his throat.

     “Thanks, by the way.”

     “Thanks for what, gorgeous?”

     His voice got very soft again. “For…for reading to me…when I was…after…”

     “I… I wasn’t even sure you were listening.”

     “I wasn’t really, at first. It was just sort of happening in the background. But the rhythm of it, of someone reading to me… it reminded me of being with my mom and uh… it helped. And I never said it before, so thank you.”

     You were almost whispering now. “You’re welcome, Spencer.”

     You both sat there in the silence for a few minutes as Michael Myers fell over the balcony, presumed dead, but then disappeared.

     “Hey, Spence?”

     “Hmm?”

     “Thanks for calling.”

     “You’re welcome.” You could hear the smile in his voice. You were glad he’d called, even though you’d been forced to abandon your jack-o-lantern, glad he’d wanted to talk to someone and especially glad it had been you.

     “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

     “Yeah.”

     “And I’ll bring you some pumpkin seeds. And Kit-Kats.”

     He laughed loudly. “Ok. I’ll trade you some M&Ms for them. Good night, Olivia.”

     You stifled a yawn. “Night, Spence.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to include the Dia de los Muertos party scene with this, but it got away from me a little bit, so I'll either post it separately or abandon it altogether. I'm not sure if it'll add much or not, so we'll see.  
> I know my tenses are a mess, but hopefully it doesn't suck?! talk to me! <3

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! I'm in the early stages of this work in progress, but I wanted to put it out there in the world to keep myself from chickening out. let me know what you're thinking! <3


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